Facebook groups may be paid, and it's not a joke

The company has announced that it conducts tests so that groups can charge those who wish to access them.

Facebook will allow the monetization of social network groups that wish to charge a monthly fee to their members, as a way of thanking their administrators for the work they do each day.

The company made the official announcement of the start of pilot tests in its blog, where it explained that after meeting with group administrators, saw the need to find a way that they could get a reward for the effort they make.

From this Wednesday a small sample of groups will begin to test this type of "groups with subscription". Among them groups dedicated to college preparation with advice for parents and children and others related to food plans and favorite places to make the purchase and save money.

Facebook explained that many public or closed groups currently generated subgroups where they devised payment methods to make the community sustainable. To avoid using different services and tools, Facebook will be responsible for receiving the money that the administrators wish to charge in each case.

How much will Facebook groups cost?

According to The Verge , Facebook will allow administrators to charge subscribers between US $ 4.99 and US $ 29.99 per monthly membership. For example, lifestyle blogger Sarah Mueller with more than 44,000 subscribers in her Declutter My Home group, has started a subgroup called Organize My Home that will have a monthly price of US $ 14.99.

Grown and Flown Parents, dedicated to giving advice to guide children to college success, has opened a subgroup called College Admissions, which will cost $ 29.99.

Facebook said that it will not keep part of the income of the group administrators, although iOS and Android will charge their share because the transaction is made from the respective application store that uses your mobile device.

Group admins build safe and supportive communities that people come back to every day. We know that admins invest their time and energy to maintain their groups, and some have told us that they would like tools to help them continue to invest in their community and offer more to members. Today, we’re piloting subscriptions with a small number of groups to continue to support group admins who lead these communities.

We hear from group admins that they’re looking for ways to help them earn money to deepen engagement with their members and continue to support their communities. Many admins do this today by creating an additional subscribers-only group that sits alongside their existing group, and rely on additional tools to track and collect payments. Subscription groups were created to make it easier for admins to provide these experiences with built-in tools, and to save them time so they can focus on offering members-only content. For members, they’re now able to sign-up and manage their subscription through the Facebook app for iOS and Android.

Subscription groups align with the experience that we made available to support video creators earlier this year, and is part of our overall approach to helping creators and leaders to financially support the work they do to engage their fans and communities.

One such community leader looking to support her work, Sarah Mueller, started a group called Declutter My Home as a way to inspire and motivate others to tidy up their apartment or house. The group quickly became an active community for helping tens of thousands of people across the world to reduce clutter in their spaces. With her new subscription group, Organize My Home, members will be able to work together on bite-sized projects, and have access to easily actionable checklists, tutorials, live videos and more to help with home organization.

“Since I started Declutter My Home, it’s been motivating and fulfilling to help others get on the path of clearing their homes of unnecessary clutter, and creating a safe and supportive space for people to come together around this common goal,” said Mueller. “With the new Organize My Home subscription group, I will be able to provide this new community with more interactive ways to having an organized home like mini-projects, group challenges, trainings, and live Q&A, while still keeping the original group as a robust community for getting free advice and motivation.”

This subscription groups pilot is testing with a small number of groups across a range of interests who will share input and feedback along the way. They include Grown and Flown Parents: College Admissions and Affordability, a dedicated college preparation group with access to college counselors to help prepare parents of high schoolers for the college application process; and Meal Planning Central Premium, a meal preparation group that includes weekly meal plans, shopping lists by preferred grocery store, and more.

As we learn from this pilot and understand how group members feel about subscription groups, we’ll continue to improve this experience to help admins offer more to their members and continue to invest in their communities.